Flyers Mailbag: Would and should William Nylander be a fit?

William Nylander is still without a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The deadline for him to sign a contract to play this season is December 1.(Photo: Claus Andersen, Getty Images)

Things have been all quiet on the Flyers front since the start of training camp, just how general manager Ron Hextall likes it.

There was no reason for noise when the Flyers started the season with a win in Las Vegas. Maybe a reason when they lost three straight, punctuated by a 6-1 defeat to the New York Islanders at home before hitting the road and winning their first two games in California?

Sure, but the only noise was crickets.

It drew speculation on the future of coach Dave Hakstol, or a potential trade to acquire another impact player. So far, nothing concrete.

Do either of those things make sense? That's where we start with the latest mailbag. As always, participate by using the #FlyersMailbag hashtag on Twitter.

I'm not sure there's anything really tangible yet, but the longer the silence between the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander, the more there will be speculation. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said in his latest "31 Thoughts: The Podcast" with Jeff Marek that the Flyers might be a "stealth team" in pursuit.

Nylander is a restricted free agent, so there is nothing stopping his agent, Lewis Gross, from taking the temperature around the league for what teams outside of Toronto would be willing to pay. There will be demand. The price will be high.

Nylander plays both right wing and center. The Flyers have more of an immediate need for the latter, not the former (and even still, Jordan Weal has looked good in recent games), but Nylander has played mostly wing. That's why it doesn't seem like a great fit, but certainly a possibility if Hextall wanted to mix it up. The Nylander saga will have to end sooner or later. If he doesn't sign a contract by December 1, he can't play in the NHL this season.

Does Simmonds get moved at deadline or does he walk for nothing at the end of the year?#FlyersMailbag

The Flyers are in a holding pattern with that. There hasn't been any word from Wayne Simmonds' camp, but he's made it clear he'd prefer to stay in Philadelphia. The Flyers want to keep him. It's going to be more a question of term rather than price.

Simmonds, 30, has earned the right for a big pay day. Can't imagine the Flyers move him in the short term considering the role he plays in the leadership group and that he leads the team in goals. If they're out of it in February around the time of the trade deadline (it's Feb. 25 this season) then it becomes a lot more likely.

I don't think they'll let him walk for nothing. I think GMs around the league saw how embarrassing it was for the New York Islanders to get nothing in return when John Tavares left for Toronto.

Think Hexy tries to offload a goalie to his buddies in LA? #FlyersMailbag

The Flyers think Brian Elliott gives them the best chance of winning right now. They had all summer to move Michal Neuvirth and couldn't do it. Calvin Pickard would probably be the most likely to be moved, but the Flyers need to keep him because they can't trust Neuvirth, who missed Thursday's game for "precautionary" reasons. Not sure if they're comfortable with one of Alex Lyon or Anthony Stolarz being in a permanent NHL role.

Something will have to give with carrying three goalies at some point, though.

Claude Giroux certainly isn't moving and Oskar Lindblom has played well recently. Would think that means Dale Weise is the odd man out once James van Riemsdyk comes back (he's roughly two weeks away), but Weise has been productive in the past few games. Assuming everyone stays healthy, Weise is the most likely to sit.

How important is it to the coaching staff for JVR, Patrick, and Voracek to develop chemistry when JVR returns? Should it be a priority? #FlyersMailbag

I don't think it will be, nor should it be, a priority to force that line. Dave Hakstol said he penciled it together on July 1 when van Riemsdyk was signed and it does make a lot of sense on paper, but it never seemed to click when the Flyers tried it in preseason.

If Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom continue with their chemistry, it might be something not to mess with. Especially considering van Riemsdyk hasn't done much skating recently, easing him in on a third-line role might be smart.

Do you think the flyers are giving HAK till American Thanksgiving or will they make another move #FlyersMailbag

Time flies. Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away. If things go south again, maybe Hakstol gets less time than that. In a season of increased expectations, the Flyers can't afford to play as bad as that three-game losing streak again. Last week Hextall said, "You look at our team on paper and we’ve got a pretty good team, but paper doesn’t mean a whole lot. We need to play better. ... I’m a pretty patient guy, but things need to start going better here."

After the win in Anaheim, he said, "I don't know if it takes the edge off." Now, there's been another win since then, so things have continued moving in the right direction, but I don't think Hextall wants to make a change there regardless. I wonder if it's up to him.

Comcast Spectacor chairman and CEO Dave Scott may force his hand if he sees the season slipping away. There was already one report from Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos a couple weeks ago that the Flyers' coaching staff is one that's being “closely watched by their ownership. They want to win now.” I was hoping to get Scott's thoughts Saturday after the loss to the Islanders, but he wasn't ready to talk. There's a sense that he'll become more available to the media as the season goes on, but that's not in any way related to the future of Hakstol.

What’s the deal with Lappy? How long is his leash considering the flyers are near league worst in PK? Why did they choose to bring him back this year with no real improvements in PK personnel as well? #FlyersMailbag

Obviously Ian Laperriere is getting a very long leash here because the penalty kill is not a new problem. I feel for him in that he can't even defend himself because Hextall's policy is that assistant coaches aren't made available to the media.

Hextall has said that the players simply have to perform better, but they've used darn near everyone on the roster on the penalty kill so that points more to a problem with the system than the players.

Their 68.8 percent penalty kill has a long way to go, but they have made clear improvements in their up-ice pressure and ability to prevent zone entries. Once a team gets set up, however, it's more of the same the team has showed over the past several seasons. Not sure how long Laperriere's contract is, but the Flyers didn't renew the contract of a 500-goal scorer and Hall of Famer in Joe Mullen, who produced a perennially solid power play up until two seasons ago. One would think Laperriere is heading toward a similar fate if the penalty kill doesn't drastically improve.

What’s the story with Sanheim’s TOI? I don’t really understand why he’s being used so little. #FlyersMailbag

Couldn't agree more. Travis Sanheim is averaging only 25 seconds more of ice time than he did last season as a rookie that never got much trust. At times that was warranted, but he improved greatly by the start of this season (more on that in Sunday's Courier-Post). He's been very good.

For what it's worth, I asked Hakstol that question a couple weeks ago back when a pair of Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere was struggling. Here was the response:

They’ve (Sanheim and Radko Gudas) been solid in their roles and consistent over the last four games now. I think one of the things that’s really suited them is the role that they’re in. They’ve been good. They’ve been solid there. In terms of increasing a lot of minutes there, we’d be real careful in doing that. They’ve been a real solid staple for us. We want that to continue. We need a little bit better play out of some of the other guys back there, but that’s not the reason to increase and change the role of guys that are going pretty well.

After 13 games. Give me what Flyers player has been the biggest surprise from both a positive and negative standpoint? #FlyersMailbag

Biggest positive surprise is probably the offense of Robert Hägg. He has focused on playing a solid defensive game and adding physicality and that's led to some very good scoring chances. He leads the defense with seven points, two more than Provorov.

Not-so-good surprise is the fall-off in Sean Couturier's offensive game, but maybe it shouldn't have been a big surprise. The defense is always there with him, it's his natural instinct. But Hakstol is right in that Couturier wasn't a full participant for a lot of camp so it makes sense that he's only recently started to show flashes of last season's breakout offensive performance.